This past fall while I was busy packing for our camping trip, something occurred to me; life is not really about the destination, it’s about the process.

As I sat in the midst of sleeping bags and tents, asking the little boys to ‘please stop jumping into the pile of pillows’, I realized that this is life. Life isn’t so much the vacation as it is packing for it.

My brother (now in Afghanistan) and his wife

Life is the process.

Life isn’t about seeing your homeschooled student graduate; it’s about hundreds of nose wipes, thousands of nap time prayers, teaching them the sound that ‘b’ makes, reminding them to chew with their mouth closed and listening to them as they tell you hundreds of silly stories. It’s about the millions of God ordained moments that proceed graduation.

It’s about the process.

Oh sure, we eventually go on vacation and watch our children graduate but if I’m living my life for those big moments, always rushing toward the next goal then I’m missing life.

I’m missing the joy of jumping into piles of pillows, the beauty of cracking eggs into batter, the satisfaction of a freshly swept floor, the blessing of each precious moment that my sovereign God has purposed to give to me. I fail to appreciate the myriad of life things that occur every day and I ultimately miss out on the very life that God has ordained for me.

If I’m living for the big moments then I may view a runny nose or silly story as a hindrance, a nuisance to be avoided or gotten through as quickly as possible rather than a sovereign gift to enrich this tapestry of my life, to craft me into the person that He wants me to be.

So if you hear Mark or I say to one another, “It’s the process”, you know that we’re just reminding each other to take a breath and thank God for the moment, because we believe that the process, each and every moment of it, is important.

One thing I am definitely missing right now is the satisfaction of a freshly swept floor. 😉 Now I’m gonna go bake some bread and try not to be too disappointed about the vacation I’m going to miss next week because of a scheduling mix-up. It’s about the day-to-day stuff. Got it. Still….

As one who tends to hate process and is much more of a “destination” kind of guy, this is a good reminder. Not one I particularly like, but true and good nonetheless. Thanks for the nudge in the right direction!

Hello Kimberly,
I first thank God for directing me to read this today,
I am so “behind” on things and just sat down to get the temps/weather…:)
Pulled up my blog, saw the title of this and clicked!
So, thankful I did…yes thats the ticket to our days and to “CONTENMENT”! I am so needy of this reminder & I thank you for letting the Lord lead you to share. 🙂
I am sure many today will be blessed-I am!
Blessings to you~
~Lori

I have to remind myself of this often. It is so easy to get caught up in the keeping order of things, and looking toward the goal rather than the reasons for those things. Thanks for bringing up what is really important.

Kimberly,
Thank you for sharing this. God totally ordained you to share this today, knowing that so many of us needed to hear it….me included! God’s timing is so perfect….just this morning (before reading this post) i was reading in Matthew 13:44-45, and i was blown away as i read about the kingdom of heaven. he explains in verse 44 that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up…he then goes on to sell all that he has so that he can buy that field. This man valued the treasure of the kingdom of heaven so much that he was willing to sell all that he had to purchase it.
as i read this, i felt as though the Lord was asking me if i value his kingdom. i realized that valuing his kingdom applies to every area of my life, especially my parenting. if i am valuing the kingdom of heaven, it should affect the way i look at parenting and caring for my kids and my husband, etc. it should help me put value on what’s really important and on what matters for eternity…for the kingdom.

thank you again for sharing….sorry for the mini-sermon!
thankful for you
patty

Oh, how I needed to read this! With 4 kids under 5 years old, I am often wishing for a couple years from now, when I will start having more help from them and wishing for the day when the 2 toddlers will grow out of the tantrum phase, and when the baby will start sleeping through the night. I need to enjoy the process! Thank you!

Thanks for the reminder. I occasionally find myself frustrated b/c I rarely see “anything” completed or anything that stays that way very long (as in dinner gets completed, but then people eat it and leave a mess!) so I don’t feel “successful” very often. I need to remember the joy in the journey.